Of Leather and Lace
by chibipinkbunny
Summary: While cleaning up the house, Tifa discovers one of Cloud's secrets. But she gets more than she bargained for when he finally reveals the truth. Cloud/Tifa romance pairing, post Advent Children. Dedicated to my friend Blue Jae.


**Of Leather and Lace**

**Dedicated to Blue Jae**

_**.:`'~ ж~'`:.**_

The ear-piercing beeps of the alarm clock woke her up from a sound sleep. With eyes half open, she reached out, fumbling around until she found the snooze button and pressed it. She slipped back under the blankets, allowing Cloud's warm body to wrap around her. He lazily slung an arm over her stomach, and pulled her even closer, as if he was scared she was going to slip through his fingers like everyone else in his life. She squeezed his hand in reassurance.

The scent of mako hung in the air, smelling somewhat akin to the sharp tang of rust, strongest in the mornings before Cloud showered. After all these years, he was still more mako than blood, and it seeped through his pores, vaporizing into a mist that permeated the room. Even now the scent evoked a strong physiologic response, heart rate rising, pounding in her chest, and sweat beading at her temples.

It took time to get used to it, but she didn't think she would ever be over it. As she was bleeding out on the steps of the Nibelheim mako reactor, the smell of it was suffocating, burning her nostrils and lungs with each shallow breath she took. It was the smell of _terrorpaindespairfiredeath_. But at least she could get up and walk away from it, Cloud could not. She would take all of his pain if she could, but she would break under the weight of it, be reduced to a catatonic state, babbling incoherently about a one-winged angel with silver hair, a harbinger of the Apocalypse. So she did what she could to distract him. It was as much for him as it was for herself.

Cloud nuzzled the back of her neck and slid a hand up under her shirt. She giggled as he hit a sensitive spot. Rubbing himself against her, he nibbled her ear, eliciting a pleasurable shiver down her spine. The alarm clock started beeping again, a signal that morning was nigh. With a sigh she pushed his hand down and said, "Come on Cloud, I'm trying to get ten more minutes of sleep." A low grunt and then he got out of bed, shortly followed by the sound of the shower turning on.

Mornings were always hectic despite her best efforts to organize their routine. Cloud was the one to wake the kids up because he never took no for an answer, using a whistle if necessary, a remnant of his early days in the military. They came downstairs to a steaming plate of eggs, bacon, and toast with a glass of orange juice. Denzel tried to convince Tifa to give him some coffee because that is what Cloud was drinking. If she gave in then it wouldn't be long before Marlene was asking for it, and the last thing the world needed was a seven year old juiced-up on caffeine, so the answer was a firm, "No."

Tifa had to pack lunches while the kids were getting dressed. Denzel wanted ham and cheese on wheat bread, and Marlene wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the crust. And on this particular day, Marlene wanted a French Braid, and it only took one flash of her sad, puppy-eyes to get Tifa to comply. As they were about to leave for the bus stop, Denzel suddenly remembered he needed a signature on his permission slip so that he could go to the amusement park with his class. Tifa signed it as they walked out the door. She watched them to make sure they crossed the street safely and made their way to the bus stop. Cloud left shortly after, giving her a quick kiss before heading out.

As she shut the door, she let out a sigh she didn't know she'd been holding. She had the house to herself for the next few hours, but it looked as though a pack of wild chocobos had run through it. Today was the one day a week the bar was closed, so if she didn't clean the house now, it wouldn't get done for a while. Another cup of coffee is what she needed, so she grabbed a mug and breathed in the rich aroma as she poured it out. Black, that's how she drank it. She wasn't used to such luxuries until recently. On the road with AVALANCHE, she might go for days at a time without food, and on the rare occasion that they did have coffee, it was the instant kind that was merely an imitation of the real thing. She hesitated as she took the first sip, but the rich, full-bodied taste was enough to coax it down.

The engagement ring on her finger caught her eye, glinting in the morning light. She was probably the most surprised of everyone when Cloud proposed. He took her out for dinner at a nice restaurant while Barrett watched the kids. The wink and smile Barrett gave them as they walked out the door nearly gave away the surprise. While they were waiting for their entrees, Cloud produced a small black box, hands shaking as he opened it to reveal a diamond ring. The blush on his cheeks and shy smile reminded her of the boy she fell in love with a lifetime ago. Throwing her arms around him, she said, "Yes," before he even asked the question.

Much to his surprise, a week later she asked him to return it because it felt too extravagant. The homeless people lining the streets of Edge seemed to be growing exponentially. Geostigma was gone, but the after-effects rippled throughout their community. Many of them had lost their jobs either recovering from Geostigma or caring for loved ones ill with the disease. Cloud and Tifa did what they could, volunteering at a soup kitchen and making sandwiches to pass out once a week, but it would take a while for their city's economy to recover. In the meantime it felt wrong to flaunt their wealth to the populace of Edge. Tifa didn't consider herself rich, at least not by Midgar's old standards, but they had a house, food on the table, and enough money to buy a diamond ring. From the perspective of someone starving on the streets, she was living the high life.

Cloud took a piece of his broken "Speed Plus," materia, and had a jeweler shape the purple shard into a heart, a symbol of their eternal love. Inscribed on the inside of the ring were the words, "I promise," a tribute to that night under the stars before he left for Midgar to join SOLDIER. Cloud may not have been the idealized hero she was hoping for back then, but he never broke his promise, and that was more than enough for her.

She was in love with half a man, the rest was lost to ghosts of the past. Every now and then they would make an appearance. Cloud would become immobilized, looking as if he would collapse were it not for the invisible strings suspending him from above, like some god's marionette. He would focus something unseen, eyes glazed over, looking as lost as the day she found him in the Lifestream, drowning in memories. The doctor had diagnosed it as absence seizures, the mako poisoning had caused a short circuit in his brain, but he refused to take the anti-epileptic medication. She never asked him why, but she suspected he needed the ghosts as much as they needed him. They were inextricably linked, had grown on him like black mold on roses, taking over the host, killing some of the leaves in the process, but in this rampant state of infection, to fully remove the mold would mean pruning the plant until there was nothing left but its roots.

Sharing the love of her life with phantoms wasn't an ideal situation, but it was a delicate homeostasis, and she was willing to do whatever was best for Cloud. Perhaps that's what love was, putting someone else's needs before your own. Love also meant doing unpleasant things to help them out, like cleaning the house. She groaned as she made her way upstairs. The bar had to be cleaned daily, which Cloud helped her with. But the rooms on the second-floor were only cleaned once a week, more like once every two weeks if Tifa was being honest with herself.

Before she could do some deep cleaning, she had to clear the clutter off the ground and start the laundry. Her shared bedroom with Cloud was covered in a layer of dirty clothes. She didn't understand why it was so difficult to walk a few feet to the laundry hamper, but she had lectured him about it to no avail, so she had given up. There were more important battles to be won in a relationship.

A few feet away she saw a pair of Cloud's leather gloves partially hidden by the dust ruffle. As she moved closer, she saw a pair of panties sticking out of one of them, as if he had been trying to hide it in a hurry. It felt as if time had stopped momentarily, and all she could hear was the whoosh of blood in her ears. She watched as her hand reached out, detached, as if it was someone else was picking up the panties. They were trimmed with black lace, skulls adorning the white fabric, smiling, almost as if they were laughing at her. It was a size smaller than what she normally wore. She racked her brain, sifted through the minute details of her life over the past few years, but she still didn't recognize it. The anger bubbled up, forming a lump in her throat, which she forcibly swallowed down. She staggered over to the bed, clutching her chest, gulping down air.

There were a lot of things she didn't know about Cloud, would never know, but she never suspected the same man that was once afraid of his own shadow would be bold enough to cheat. Saving the world twice had granted him celebrity status. She saw the way other women undressed him with their eyes, but she thought Cloud was too aloof to notice. It was hard to believe he had touched another woman, had used those same hands to make someone else moan out in ecstasy. She dug her fingernails into her palm so hard there was a trickle of blood down her wrist.

Just when she felt like she had started to find her way through the labyrinth of Cloud's mind, she realized she was back at the start, had spent all this time ambling around aimlessly. Maybe she was no further along than she was as a kid when the only things she knew about him was that he had a pet wolf named Conan, his mother made the best apple pie in town, and he had no father. Their engagement seemed like a karmic gift, as if the gods were trying to make amends for the hell they had both been through. Although nothing could make up for being Hojo's lab rat for four years, but a chance at happiness was a nice gesture, a bridge to healing the wounds of the past, but it was collapsing before her, brick by brick.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. On the screen was a family portrait, big toothy grins from her and the kids, and a subtle smile from Cloud. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she brushed them away. She gripped the phone as though it were a lifeline, the only thing keeping her from drowning in a sea of fear. As she dialed Cloud's number, she could feel the waves crashing over her, trying to pull her under, but she wouldn't be consumed by it. Before punching in the last digit of his phone number, she put the phone back in her pocket. It would be better to have this conversation later tonight after she had cooled off.

The next few hours were spent in a frenzied state, scrubbing the toilets until they sparkled, washing and folding six loads laundry, making beds with perfect military corners, and dusting every nook and cranny. The house had never been this clean, at least not while they lived there. She was still angry, but the heat behind it was gone, more like a dull ache instead of an all-consuming fire. When the kids came home she took a thirty minute break to give them a snack and get them started on their homework. She hid the pain behind a forced smile as she asked them how their day was. Marlene monopolized the conversation, saying something about Tommy chasing her and her friends around at recess trying to give them cooties, but after a while the words seemed to meld together into nonsensical babble, and Tifa found herself growing impatient, so she dismissed herself to finish cleaning.

When it came time to prepare dinner she went for something easy, spaghetti. She had the kids help her make garlic bread, though Marlene got more butter on herself than the bread. As Cloud walked through the door she could feel the temperature of the room rise about five degrees. She watched as the kids ran up to hug him, but Tifa didn't join them, not this time. Cloud looked over at her, slightly hurt, and she quickly looked away. She went to resume her task and saw a mangled piece of bread in her tightly clenched hands.

The kids helped her set the table while Cloud got settled in front of the TV for a few minutes. Tifa called Cloud over once dinner was done, and they took their seats. While everyone else was eating, she pushed the food around on her plate. Across from her Cloud was eating like a heathen, his lips covered in spaghetti sauce. Usually his lack of etiquette didn't bother her. Cloud worked long hours, and burned up several thousand calories a day, even more on the days he had to fight some monsters along the delivery route. But tonight she felt disgusted, could feel her stomach churning. She shoved a forkful of food in her mouth. It was tasteless tonight, acidic and lacking flavor. She looked up from her plate and saw three pairs of eyes staring at her, waiting expectantly. "What?" she asked, her voice coming out more bitter then intended.

Cloud shrugged, "You just seem really quiet tonight. . ."

"I need to talk to you about something, but I wanted to wait till after dinner," she groaned.

Cloud nodded in response. The atmosphere grew even more quiet, foreboding, like the calm before the storm. The kids exchanged nervous glances before walking over to the TV, turning up the volume to drown out the background. They had been through this drill before, and it pained Tifa to know she was the cause of such strife. She collected the dishes, dumped the leftover food into the trash, and put the plates in the sink. Walking towards the stairs, she noticed Cloud was still at the table, slumped down in his chair, staring intently at a napkin he was pulling apart, as if the task required an inordinate amount of concentration.

"Come on," she said, trying to hold it all in. The anger was already seeping out, but once they were in their room she could finally unleash it. Behind her she could hear Cloud's footsteps as he walked up the stairs, heavier than usual, as if he was marching to the gallows, already aware of his impending doom.

"Shut the door," she said sharply.

"Mind telling me what's wrong?" he asked, confused and agitated.

"What's wrong?!" She marched over to the bed, grabbed the pair of underwear from where she left it earlier, and shoved it in his face. "This!"

"It's your panties," he said, almost as if it were a question.

"No, this is not mine." She tried to keep her voice from shaking as she continued, "It's a size too small, it's hideous, and it was stuffed in your leather glove."

Cloud looked down at the floor, "I don't know what to tell you, I've never seen those before."

She stared at him, unblinking, until he finally looked up at her, opened his mouth as if to speak, and then closed it just as suddenly.

With more force than necessary, she threw a duffel bag on the bed and started filling it with clothes. "I want you out of this house. How could you cheat on me?" And in our bed?!" She nearly choked on the last few words. By now she could feel the tears streaming down her face.

"It's not like that." He looked up at her, lips taut, pressed together in contemplation. Pacing, he looked away from her as he continued. "Those are mine. . ."

She sniffled, "What did you say?"

Scratching the back of his head, he spoke, his voice so soft it was barely audible. "That pair of underwear is mine."

Her eyes narrowed. "You've always been a bad liar Cloud, but even Marlene could see through this one." She started dumping more of his clothes into the bag, stuffing them in haphazardly.

"No, I'm serious." He looked up at her, wide-eyed, biting his lip. Words were not one of Cloud's strong points.

Tifa crossed her arms, shifted her weight to the right hip. "You better not be lying to me Cloud."

With a heavy sigh, Cloud said, "Go over to the dresser. Check the very back of the second drawer. The underwear is hidden under some old pants I hardly wear anymore."

She walked over to the dresser, giving Cloud a disapproving glance before doing so. Pulling open the drawer, she nearly yanked it out. There were several layers of clothes, so she tossed them out to improve visibility. While she was searching, Cloud explained, "It started when Aerith coerced me into cross-dressing to save you. The lace panties felt kind of nice. . ."

At the very bottom of the drawer she saw several pairs of feminine panties, mostly lace and a few cotton ones with bright colors. "Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" she asked as she turned to face him.

"I thought you would get upset," he mumbled.

She walked over and wrapped her arms around him, his sinewy body softening under her embrace. Speaking somewhat into his chest, she said, "After everything you've been through, I'm surprised you don't have more quirks."

"So you're not mad?"

Pulling back, she looked up at him with a soft smile. "As long as you don't steal my underwear, it's fine."

"Yours is too big," he smirked.

She couldn't help but laugh, more out of relief than anything else. When Cloud joined in that only made her laugh harder until her stomach ached from the effort. Tomorrow would come and they would be saddled with their usual pain and regrets, but in this brief interlude they were happy. For a moment, she could see the boy she fell in love with so many years ago, bright, innocent eyes that shone only for her. The old Cloud had died in the lab, or so she thought, but maybe he was just buried deep under layers of traumatic memories, and given enough time he would emerge. It gave her hope, a light to carry when the sun had stopped rising and the world was covered in an implacable darkness, but she wasn't alone on this journey, Cloud was by her side carrying a lantern of his own.

_**.:`'~ ж~'`:...:`'~ ж~'`:...:`'~ ж~'`:.**_

**Author's Note:** So this idea came to me a while ago when Blue Jae came over and we played Final Fantasy VII together. It's a long game, so we didn't get that far, but we made it to Don Corneo's mansion. We both laughed so hard at Miss Cloud and the shenanigans at the mansion. I played it as a kid, but the whole thing went over my head at the time. I dedicated this to Blue Jae because she's one of my best friends, and besides being extremely loyal, caring, and compassionate, we just have a good time together, and I wanted to share a bit of that joy that she has given me :D

I haven't seen anyone do this, but I'm sure somebody has because the idea just begs to be written. And we all know that Cloud dressing as a lady is canon XD I did check, and in the actual Final Fantasy 7 game it is not specified what type of underwear he is wearing when he disguises himself as a woman. So I'm choosing to believe Aerith convinced him to wear ladies panties, which probably isn't far off from the truth, lol. Wearing ladies underwear does not make a man gay necessarily. I believe sexuality is more fluid than the boxes of straight, bisexual, and gay that society expects people to fit into. And I think Tifa of all people would be understanding about it. Just my opinion though. . .

My friends **Icey** and **Blue Jae** helped with this story, giving me ideas and holding my hand virtually as I wrote some parts of it XD The idea for the ending came from **Icey**. I originally wanted to end it with more angst, but she said that since this was supposed to be a funny story, I should probably end it on a happier note. If anyone has any suggestions, please share :) I've never written Tifa before. I've read more than my fair share of Cloti stories, demonegg being my favorite Cloti author, but writing from Tifa's POV was challenging. Most of what I write is Aerith, Zack, and Cloud because those are my favorite characters, lol. If anyone is reading this story and simultaneously reads my CloudxZack friendship story, I'm going to start the next chapter now. I just wanted to take a break to write something fun.


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